A few weeks ago my husband and I went to a killer Chinese restaurant and ate a meal I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since. Aside from the perfect hot & sour soup and best fried rice, they had a luxuriously creamy mango sorbet for dessert.

Usually when the only gluten-free option for dessert is sorbet, you end up surrounded by people eating things filled with chocolate and butter (and gluten…), anxiously trying to convince yourself a small cup of sorbet is just as good as a death-by-chocolate cake. Speaking of which, I’ve never understood the term “death-by-chocolate”. Chocolate is a life-giving, joyful thing! I suppose now this term has new meaning to me. Eating a Matilda-like slice of chocolate cake really would result in a death-like experience for me.

Back to the sorbet! This particular sorbet was smooth, creamy, and had the slight taste of coconut. Coconut and mango go so well together! So I decided to make a granita out of the 2 in at home.

Granitas are a fun dessert to make as the weather gets warmer. They are great for parties and taste like a fancy slushy! Granitas are also very simple to make and just require a bit of babysitting in the beginning. You scrape the ice crystals a couple times to keep the granita light a fluffy during the first few hours it’s freezing.

I love that this particular granita is creamy, rather than just icy. It is still a light and healthy dessert, but tastes like an indulgence! Plus it is dairy-free, grain-free, egg-free, and refined-sugar-free. So pretty much anyone, no matter what their dietary needs may be, can eat this! I loved it topped with coconut milk whipped cream and fresh mango slices!

Ingredients

For the Granita:

Top with:

coconut milk whipped cream (regular whipped cream)

fresh mango slices

Instructions

Place the mango, coconut milk, and lemon juice in a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth.

Pour the mixture into a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish. You can use a 9×9 if you can’t fit a 9×13 in your freezer, the bigger the pan/more surface area the better though. Place the dish into the freezer to chill. Every 30 minutes, scrape the mixture with a fork to break up the ice crystals and to keep it light and fluffy. Continue scraping every 30 minutes for at least 3 hours. After that you can just keep it in the freezer until you’re ready to eat.

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Welcome to my blog! My name is Erin. I’m a food-loving mom of 3. I find a lot of joy creating delicious food for the people I love. I eat 100% gluten-free (and mostly dairy-free) because of celiac disease. I'm glad you're here!
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